note about ref patterns in pointer guide

Fixes #13602
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Steve Klabnik 2014-08-28 15:12:18 -04:00
parent b5165321e4
commit 7e4a1459e9
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@ -729,6 +729,31 @@ This part is coming soon.
This part is coming soon.
# Patterns and `ref`
When you're trying to match something that's stored in a pointer, there may be
a situation where matching directly isn't the best option available. Let's see
how to properly handle this:
```{rust,ignore}
fn possibly_print(x: &Option<String>) {
match *x {
// BAD: cannot move out of a `&`
Some(s) => println!("{}", s)
// GOOD: instead take a reference into the memory of the `Option`
Some(ref s) => println!("{}", *s),
None => {}
}
}
```
The `ref s` here means that `s` will be of type `&String`, rather than type
`String`.
This is important when the type you're trying to get access to has a destructor
and you don't want to move it, you just want a reference to it.
# Cheat Sheet
Here's a quick rundown of Rust's pointer types: